Here, summed up, are John Holt’s great insights about children’s learning. By Peter Gray Ph.D. In a survey we conducted a few years ago, Gina Riley and I asked unschooling families to name the writers whose works had influenced them most in their decision to take that route. John Holt […]
By Idzie Desmarais My mother used to get asked, sometimes, if she was a teacher. Considering my sister and I weren’t going to school, the assumption ran that surely she must be a teacher. Surely she wouldn’t consider something so drastic as to take her children away from the hands of […]
Children benefit from previous understanding of spoken words before reading them. Africa Studio/Shutterstock Children’s oral vocabulary – their knowledge of the sounds and meanings of words – is strongly positively associated with their reading all the way through school. Understanding this relationship is important for making children’s reading as strong […]
By Peter Gray Ph.D. As regular readers of this blog know, I’m an advocate for Self-Directed Education. My research and that of others convinces me that Self-Directed Education works, is eminently practical, and is far less trouble to everyone than the coercive educational system that we all consider “standard.” Self-Directed Education, […]
Why not ask a parent to play a problem-solving video game with you? Shutterstock/Alan Ingram This is an article from Curious Kids, a new series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome – serious, weird or […]
EARLY IN THE morning on Monday, May 23, the uptown 5 train lurches skyward from its subterranean shaft, rising into the light of the Bronx. The cars groan as they lumber over elevated tracks high above the avenues, bodegas and detached homes, alongside treetops and the Escher-esque maze of rusty […]
Credit: Eric Cote/Shutterstock.com A Texas teacher’s note to parents about her newly implemented “no formal homework policy” in her second-grade class went viral last week, opening up the floodgates for parents, teachers and school administrators to weigh in on this controversial topic. In the note, teacher Brandy Young told parents […]
Pupils at Siltamaki primary school perform a rap as part of their cross-subject learning Jussi Helttunen For years, Finland has been the by-word for a successful education system, perched at the top of international league tables for literacy and numeracy. Only far eastern countries such as Singapore and China outperform […]
Pressures on teaching time and resources often means the benefits of outdoor learning are overlooked, a report says Outdoor learning can have a positive impact on children’s development but it needs to be formally adopted, a report suggests. Childhoods were dramatically changing, with fewer opportunities to spend time outdoors, researchers […]
Six year olds are deciding whether they are good readers or not based on how many books they’ve read. from www.shutterstock.com When my son was nine years old, he put aside the large Harry Potter novel he had been slowly, but enthusiastically, reading each evening and instead began ploughing through […]